"It sounds horrible. I can't even imagine it," Derek says sympathetically, trying to picture a dry, scorched earth. "I've always been near an ocean. The Pacific or the Atlantic, and now whatever this one is."

Derek goes over to pull himself up onto a rock, the same one they laid out on after that first swim, and looks at Thomas curiously. "I know you're worried about your friends, but do you think it's better here? Even after everything?"

Sometimes Derek feels bad for preferring Darrow over his home, because things are better here for him. He feels like he should be wanting to escape, just like everyone else, but he doesn't. Not really.